“Illegal” Wins Judges’ Special Award at Children’s Books Ireland Awards

The Irish Times reports that Eoin Colfer, Andrew Donkin, and Giovanni Rigano’s graphic novel “Illegal” received the Judges’ Special Award at this year’s Children’s Books Ireland Book of the Year Awards. The comic, published by Hodder Children’s Books late last year in the UK, is a middle grade book telling the story of Ebo, a Ghanaian orphan, his search for his older brother Kwame, and their eventual journey across the Mediterranean in search of asylum.

The judges stated, “This timely and powerful graphic novel charts a young boy’s journey across the Sahara Desert on the long, dangerous trek towards Italy and the potential for a new life there and reunion with his sister. This affecting book weaves together real stories of migration with immersive, naturalistic illustrations and carefully paced, minimalistic text. Combining intensity with accessibility, this is an important book that will stimulate important conversations and reflection about human rights, inclusion, solidarity, and prejudice.”

Colfer, who is Irish, received the award at today’s ceremony in Smock Alley Theatre, Dublin. This year’s Book of the Year Award went to writer Deirdre Sullivan and illustrator Karen Vaughan for their anthology book Tangleweed and Brine, a dark feminist retelling of thirteen classic fairy tales, while the Honour Award for Illustration went to Kevin Waldron’s for his work on Michael Rosen’s Chocolate Cake.

Head on over to The Irish Times for more on this year’s awards. According to Amazon, “Illegal” will be published in the US on August 7.